BE MY GUEST!
@The Future of Living Conference
>> Humans All Too Human
The Future of Living Conference @iMAL//Bozar, Brussels ►► December 2023
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The race to create a machine that outperforms humanly is shaking up every field of our lives. We are irretrievably immersed into the generative AI revolution. AI can now produce new images, new audio and video, and new language. So, given the speed at which AI technologies have evolved in the recent years, it is plausible to think that in no more than a lustrum, the models of the new so called “capable AI” will not only be able to express ideas and take decisions, but will also be able to perform a sequence of actions.
AI capabilities are becoming increasingly more anthropomorphically sophisticated. AI is trained to mimic human empathy and even creativity and all of this can generate unrealistic expectations and even emotional attachment. Along the way, moreover, anthropomorphic AI can perpetuate and reinforce social prejudices and stereotypes and can be used for manipulation. Nor should we forget the human propensity to project personality onto objects. I would say that - at least for the older generations - we tend to put emotions before reasoning, and even when we know that something is not human, we tend to anthropomorphize it. However, something seems to be changing in the younger generations as they develop a more conscious, or should we say more natural? human-machine interaction.
Artificial Intelligence is digging into our past, impacting our present and predicting our future. In just a few months, more than 100 million of us have used ChatGPT or text-to-image programs. In this exercise, we have witnessed artificial intelligence and artificial stupidity. We have witnessed how AI is being used as a weapon to influence and manipulate public debate, and sooner than we think, coach AI’s will be whispering delicate life advice to us.
Until now, no technological development in human history has ever had power and control over our lives. And even though it’s true that AI is not naturally autonomous -or not yet-, this shift of lead, in certain competences, from humans to machines could irrupt faster than expected. Reflection and action is needed now. How can we, as citizens, partake collectively in the process of feeding the capabilities and constraints into those models to make them fair, inclusive and truthful? Is a true democratic process possible? Could art serve as a tool for fine-tuning?
If used wisely, Artificial Intelligence could become the most influential innovation in history, a true driver of transformative improvements in all the contemporary challenges we are facing as a society (peace and security, healthcare, climate change, etc.).
The third edition of The Future of Living is not only an invitation for reflection and dialogue, but also for collective remodeling and action. Under the subtitle “Human, All Too Human" we will be exploring, from dystopia to utopia, new narratives that turn the tide and break paradigms towards a positive techno-social change.
curator – Lucía García, The Future of Living 2023
BE MY GUEST ︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎
At the intersection between art, architecture, and research, Be My Guest! explores the spatial, cultural, and social relationships of design, new media technologies, and AI in one of the most common and oldest gathering rituals in our everyday lives: a dinner with friends where AI becomes the host, co-creator of the spatial experience, and co-author of the spatial menu. Every dish becomes a surreal experience, with AI co-designed objects staging the physical environment and hiding hybrid affordances yet to be discovered. The project situates itself in the speculative future of living and proposes a mixed-reality dinner event, combining spatial storytelling, AI as a social companion, and posthuman theories to open a ground for discussion about the emerging socio-cultural role of artificial intelligent models and their integration through new media technologies in our everyday social scenarios for the future of our livable domains.
What happens when species meet?
CREDITS
a project by Me AndOther Me / Cenk Güzelis & Anna Pompermaier
in collaboration with Valdemar Darny ︎
Production assistant: Ömer Gürel
Ceramic 3D printing: Jan Contala (cera.Lab) ︎
Creative technologist: Burkart Schwaighofer ︎ , Marek Šimoník
Sound artist: Dilâ Kirmizitoprak
Chef: Adrian Mancheño / Hispania Brussels ︎
Photo and Filming: MindTheFilm ︎
Editing: Marvin Kanas ︎, Cenk Güzelis
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At the intersection between art, architecture, and research, Be My Guest! explores the spatial, cultural, and social relationships of design, new media technologies, and AI in one of the most common and oldest gathering rituals in our everyday lives: a dinner with friends where AI becomes the host, co-creator of the spatial experience, and co-author of the spatial menu. Every dish becomes a surreal experience, with AI co-designed objects staging the physical environment and hiding hybrid affordances yet to be discovered. The project situates itself in the speculative future of living and proposes a mixed-reality dinner event, combining spatial storytelling, AI as a social companion, and posthuman theories to open a ground for discussion about the emerging socio-cultural role of artificial intelligent models and their integration through new media technologies in our everyday social scenarios for the future of our livable domains.
What happens when species meet?
CREDITS
a project by Me AndOther Me / Cenk Güzelis & Anna Pompermaier
in collaboration with Valdemar Darny ︎
Production assistant: Ömer Gürel
Ceramic 3D printing: Jan Contala (cera.Lab) ︎
Creative technologist: Burkart Schwaighofer ︎ , Marek Šimoník
Sound artist: Dilâ Kirmizitoprak
Chef: Adrian Mancheño / Hispania Brussels ︎
Photo and Filming: MindTheFilm ︎
Editing: Marvin Kanas ︎, Cenk Güzelis
